


It Takes a While

by campsuga



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), College, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Getting Together, Happy Ending, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2020-12-28 02:40:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21129419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/campsuga/pseuds/campsuga
Summary: It all seemed like the perfect setup. Following Nationals, handing over the club to the second years and graduation, right in the heart of Tokyo, Sugawara Koushi is going to be college roommates with his high school best friend, Sawamura Daichi. They’re taking different majors in the same university. It wasn’t really a planned occurrence, but their preferred majors were there, and they thought it wouldn’t be so bad to go through college and big city life with their best friend from back home.





	1. Spring

It all seemed like the perfect setup. Following Nationals, handing over the club to the second years and graduation, right in the heart of Tokyo, Sugawara Koushi is going to be college roommates with his high school best friend, Sawamura Daichi. They’re taking different majors in the same university. It wasn’t really a planned occurrence, but their preferred majors were there, and they thought it wouldn’t be so bad to go through college and big city life with their best friend from back home.

So, here they are now. They decided to live in off-campus apartment so they can host their friends and family who would want to visit them, also no curfew. But because they decided to live off campus, that also means that it’s going to cost a bit more. The two ended up getting their own part time jobs, Daichi in a coffee shop between their apartment and school and Suga in a retail shop along a shopping street not far from where they are living. Also, the receiving end of their financial status and need to live off campus is the actual apartment they’ve chosen. Although the living room and kitchen are spacious and comes with some furniture, like a huge comfortable couch and a working refrigerator, it also comes with a single bedroom. Their two beds flanked on either side of the room with their study desks between them gives them some sort of separation to keep their apartment from looking like Tokyo volleyball training where their futons were basically right next to each other.

Once school has settled in, they’ve both sunk into routines that make their new life in Tokyo ideal. Daichi, the engineering student and perpetual early riser, always takes his morning jog, coming back in time to make their breakfast, all before Suga manages to convince himself to get out of bed. The smell of Daichi’s coffee helps though. Working in a coffee shop with some pretentious coffee does have its advantages.

Suga on the other hand, discovered yoga classes thanks to passing by a studio once. Although he’s not really hooked on it. He finds it much more engaging and stimulating that Daichi’s early morning runs. Or any run at any time of day, really.

Suga has always been a night owl and so many times, after doing homework or after coming back home from work, he finds himself snuggled in their couch armed with a mug of tea in hand and a movie on their tiny TV.

Tonight, Suga is snuggled in a light blanket. It’s the middle of spring but there’s still quite chill in the evening air. He’s watching a scary movie with the lights of the living room turned off when he hears audible mumbling, grumbling, moaning and scuffles from outside their front door. He assumes its Daichi but the lack of anything familiar with his actions worry him just a tiny bit. He doesn’t notice his hand tightening around his bowl of chips.

The door swings open and comes through a disgruntled Kuroo dragging what seems to be a highly inebriated Daichi.

“Kuroo! Daichi?”

“I swear Sugawara. I don’t want to hear it right now. Take him. Just take him and I’ll go.”

“How about y—”

“No, I’m going to go or else I will find a way to asphyxiate your captain with a shower curtain.”

Before Kuroo could properly turnover Daichi into Suga’s arms, he’s let go and started walking away from the former co-captains.

He knows that Kuroo lives a good half hour away and that trains are dangerously close to stop running for the night. Suga was going to chase after Kuroo and let him stay the night but the most responsible person he knows is currently weighing him down until they’re both sprawled out on the floor and Suga is practically smothered by Daichi.

“What happened, Daichi?” He drags his roommate to their room, dropping him on his side of the room, the better made bed with tucked corners without a wrinkle in sight.

There’s grumbling, resistance and an attempt to put together a sentence but Daichi is currently suffering through the effects of underage drinking. Suga, being this lump of flesh’s best friend and current roommate, decides to help Daichi out by getting him out of beer-soaked clothes. Well, Suga is hoping that it’s just beer. He pulls off his jeans that seems to have acquired a variety of stains. He pulled out Daichi’s phone and charges it on the nightstand. He was in the middle of pulling of his former captain’s sweater when Daichi rolls over and traps Suga’s head between the half-off sweater and Daichi’s bare chest.

The rancid stink of alcohol is there but there’s also the scent of his cologne, a distinct blend of citrus and woodsy notes. Why Suga decides to notice that then, he’ll never know.

Suga attempts to push him away gently. Hands on Daichi’s chest reveals to the ash blonde fine arts student that Daichi’s chest is much firmer than what he previously thought. It seems bigger than when they were training every day back in high school. His fingers sink into his captain’s chest. He tries to give it a little nudge and a little shake, “Daichi, wake up! I can-“

“Noisy!” Daichi rolls over even more, pinning Suga underneath his arms with Suga’s legs sticking up in the air with nothing to anchor themselves to.

“Daichi, I can’t- Daichi!”

The two have been playing volleyball casually in their college club but training hasn’t been strict so Suga opted out of strengthening sessions and just chooses to play to keep active. Daichi, however, decided to keep up with the occasional strength training at the gym. It’s no wonder that Daichi can now truly and undeniably overpower Suga. Without much of an option to move, Suga stares at one of Daichi’s erect nipple, almost resigning himself to staying in that position for the rest of the night when an idea strikes him.

One of his pinky fingers convenient is lodged between their two bodies and is coincidentally resting right next to the offending nipple. Suga positions his pinky before looking up to Daichi’s face to wait for his reaction. He flicks his finger a couple of times until a moan escapes Daichi. Just when Suga thought the grip around him would loosen, Daichi, instead, buries his face into Suga’s hair, takes one deep breath and goes back to sleep.

Suga’s eyes widen at the sudden and unexpectedly more intimate position than before. He’s now close enough that he can smell something beyond the smell of stale alcohol and disappearing cologne. It’s a very light musk. It smells like a locker room but in a more nostalgic and actually pleasant way. Suga doesn’t realize yet but he ends up taking a few deep breaths himself, taking in as much of that seemingly addicting scent in.

“Smells nice.”

That was what Suga was thinking but it wasn’t him that said it. It was spoken, nay, lazily mumbled by the pair of lips currently weaving through his recently showered hair. He feels Daichi shift over him and he feels lips on his forehead followed by an unmistakable kiss that doesn’t leave his skin.

Suga’s instincts get the better of him and he just pushes Daichi away. Just a second later, Daichi is on the floor in just his boxers and his sweater caught in one of his arms and Suga is peering over from the bed with one hand resting on his forehead. Flustered and unsure of what just happened, he resigns the whole situation as one of those things that only happens in college. He tiptoes over the drunken corpse of Daichi and goes out to sleep in the living room. The sun is already starting to seep into their living room by the time Suga is able to push weird thoughts from his head and finally be able to go to sleep. 

The following morning, Daichi gets up from the floor with a very sore body with a matching headache to go with it. His natural body clock prevents him from sleeping in. He gets up, sees Suga’s empty, surely an impossible feat anytime before noon and proceeds to make his way out of their bedroom. The amount of sunshine tells Daichi that it’s still early and the lump on the couch tells him that Suga might have an idea of what happened last night. Not knowing much of the events from the night before other than meeting up with Kuroo and Bokuto in a part of the city that’s closer to the other two’s university that his, he decided to seek some answers. He crouches in front of his former vice-captain and shakes his arm lightly.

A pair of light hazel eyes land on chocolate brown ones, Suga’s eyes trail from eyes to what is essentially a bare chest right in front of his face. The sight triggers a very recent trauma and Suga yelps, pushes his captain off his crouched legs and unto his butt and grabs his blanket towards himself. “Geez, Daichi! Don’t do that!”

“What?”

“Don’t walk around like that!”

“Like what?”

Not knowing how to compose his thoughts into coherent sentences, he waves a hand in front of him, “Like… that.”

“What? Shirtless?”

“Yes. Naked. Anyway, don’t scare me like that. You know I don’t do mornings.”

“I know but I don’t know what happened last night but I’m pretty sure I can put the blame on Kuroo and Bokuto. I feel awful, Sug. My head feels like it’s going to split into two.”

“Well, whatever blame you have on Kuroo, I think he’s made up for it for dragging you back here last night.”

“Huh?”

“Ugh! Daichi! No! No more talking! It’s too early!” Suga covers up in the blanket they always have draped over their couch.

“Coffee?”

Suga peeks out of the blanket just enough to reply, “Coffee.”

Daichi rises from the floor and heads for the kitchen while Suga, still grasping the blanket, thinks about telling everything that happened but only up to the part where he helped Daichi out of his wet clothes. He is too focused on building a plot hole-free story that he doesn’t notice his staggered breathing, his heart beating in his head and why he’s having flashbacks of Daichi’s bare chest.


	2. Summer

Summer is settled and everyone feels it. The two are both very happy for their part time jobs in air-conditioned establishments because they already ram up their electric bill on how much they run the air conditioner in their room.

They were finally on the tail end of the semester and the two roommates would finally be heading back to Miyagi at the end of the week after completing their final shifts at work or completing subject requirements. For Daichi, that means one more final exam but for Suga, that means submitting projects to complete units and for extra credit. 

After his last final and final shift of work before they go home, Daichi heads home with the intention of hibernating until they have to leave for their trip back home.

He walks in their apartment and sees a pale leg draped over their couch and a few canvasses strewn around their living room. Their whole floor is covered with newspapers and large plastic cups with dirty water and numerous paint brushes sticking out of it. When he left the apartment just a little before 7am, there was still a frantic Suga finishing his last projects by working through the previous night. He looks over the couch and sees one Sugawara Koushi sprawled out in nothing but pale blue boxer briefs. Just off the couch, bundled on the floor, seems to be his clothes from this morning bunched up and predominantly covered in red and black paint. His arms, neck and jaw are littered with patches of an array of paint colors.

Daichi stares at Suga’s body and notices that the pale skinned art student seems to have lost weight during their first semester out in Tokyo. His eyes map out the chest and abdomen stretched out before him. He’s pretty sure that his waist has gone narrower. He’s also lost the shadow of ab muscles he used to sport when training for volleyball was a twice a day, everyday occurrence. The dark-haired man pokes a finger into pale skin and concludes that the tone and core strength is still there, just not as prominent. The man below him squirms at the sensation, slowly scratches his chest, right next to a nipple and Daichi can’t seem to pull away his eyes. _Why am I watching him sleep? _Daichi almost wants to say.

“Suga! Suga!” hazel eyes dart open with panic already embedded in them. “Suga! What time is your deadline?”

Daichi could see the dread settle into his roommates’ eyes. “Three! The deadline is at three! I only wanted to rest my eyes. Omigod, what time is it?”

“It’s just a little after 2pm. You can still make it.”

Suga scrambles into their room to get whatever decent clothes he can get. As he’s pulling down a shirt over his body Daichi releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“Dai?”

“Huh?”

“I said, could you do me the hugest favor and help me bring them to campus? I have to bring in four projects and they all haven’t fully dried yet.”

“Of course.”

By the time they stagger out of Suga’s building, barely beating the 3pm deadline, the rush of adrenaline and dread is dying away and Suga is finally feeling the effects of his actions. Suga’s knees are shaking and the lack of sleep and nourishment is starting to sink in. He rests a hand on Daichi’s shoulder to steady himself and starts planning out their next plan of action, “Alright. This is what’s going to happen. We’re going to eat, my treat. Then, I’m going to have the hottest and longest bath known to man. Then, I’m going to sleep way past than what is socially acceptable.” His attention goes to his hands, then his arms and realizes that he might need that bath right now, actually.

“Sounds good to me, Sug. I haven’t had lunch yet, to be honest. I was going to empty our cupboard of the last couple instant noodles in there but a free decent meal sounds so much better.”

Suga laughs sarcastically but follows it up with, “Give me a sec, Dai, I need to at least wash some of this paint off of me.” Suga starts walking towards the water fountain and Daichi follows.

Cool, refreshing water trails down Suga’s arms and he does his best to scrub away as much paint off of his arms and face without getting himself drenched.

Daichi chuckles at the sight of Suga bent over and scrubbing away. “Omigod, Suga, that’s not working. Look, take your shirt off or you’re going to get yourself soaked.”

The former captain unknowingly gulps down at the sight of Suga’s bare chest in front of him. He tries to shake off this weird feeling in the pit of his stomach by reaching out to Suga, “Here, you keep on missing this spot.” Daichi wets his hands and cups Suga’s face to steady his hand and then proceeds to use his thumb to wipe away a stubborn purple stain just in front of his ear.

Suga stops breathing momentarily. Daichi doesn’t notice this. He does, however, notices the softness of Suga’s now much longer hair. It triggers something in him. It makes him want to pull the man closer to him and bury his face into that lush, ashen hair. He resists this urge and finally wipes away the last remnants of paint and pulls his hand away. “There.”

Daichi turns around to hide his face and goes, “Come on, I’m hungry. I’m excited for free food!”

Thankful for not seeing Daichi’s face right now, Suga looks down on the ground with his eyebrows bunched in the middle. After pulling on the his shirt, he intentionally changes his expression to one that certainly looks a lot less frustrated.

Suga catches up to Daichi and slaps his back. They start walking towards their very late lunch, “How does ramen with extra noodles and extra meat sound” Daichi could sense the mask Suga just put on for him. He wouldn’t be his best friend if he wasn’t able to tell that much, he thinks.

Daichi nods and engages in light conversation while his head drowns in uncertainty. _What’s going on?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still not beta'd. At this point, I'm just turning a blind eye to it. I stayed for the fluff and you can too if you just believe! ^.^ 
> 
> Also, short chapter, this is the shortest of all. But next chapter is the longest one of the 5.


	3. Still Summer

Finally, back in Miyagi for summer break, the two roommates finally get back to their homes, indulging in home cooked meals, not paying for air conditioning and hanging out with other friends. They always hang out with Asahi either before or after he works at their family bakery. Shimizu, who decided to go to a local college, is usually up for afternoon coffee. Once, Suga and Daichi run into the first years, well, they’re second years now, after heading for the convenience store for ice cream and popsicles. After an excitedly bouncing Hinata calms down, plans were made to go to the beach the following week.

Because of conflicting schedules among all the other members, it only ended up being Suga, Daichi, Asahi, Tanaka, Nishinoya and Hinata crammed into Daichi’s dad’s car. Daichi could see his four former teammates crammed in the back row with Suga sitting on Tanaka’s lap with his legs spread over the other three passengers on the back row. Asahi offered the front seat for Suga, but the latter insisted that with Asahi at the back, they’d only be more cramped. Besides, Suga says, he can finally abuse his senpai authority to bully his kouhais.

Like all trips to the beach, this one consisted of eating copious amounts of food of varying temperatures from grilled squid and grilled fish to shaved ice and ice cream. They also participated in some pickup games in volleyball. And a trip to the beach would not be complete without swimming around the refreshing water.

Hinata and Nishinoya rented a stand-up paddle and passed it around for each person to try. While pretty much everybody but Asahi was able to comfortably learn to keep themselves upright, Suga took to it like a duck to water. His newly found super balance that he picked up from those few yoga classes he attended in Tokyo definitely helped. And Daichi could tell that Suga was just about to gloat about it.

There was a little gleam in his eye that Daichi identified was going to be the birth of something that either one or both would later regret. But he’s known for a while now to not fight against these Suga-moments and just hope for the best.

“Daichi.”

_Here we go_, Daichi thinks.

“You’re going to do something, aren’t you?”

Suga grins the biggest smile he can muster before he continues, “I promise you that there will be no loss of life or limb for this one. Just hold this for a minute, would you?” Suga shoves the pointy end of the paddleboard towards his captain and asks him to swim with him to chest-deep waters.

“Suga, let’s go back.”

“No! It’s gotten a bit too wavy there. Besides, I don’t want my kouhais seeing me possibly face plant on the board.”

Suga hops on the stand up paddle board and instructs Daichi to try and keep the board steady if he can’t do it himself while he tries a few yoga poses on top of the board.

“This isn’t going to end well,” Daichi deadpans.

“Oh, but what if it does?” And Daichi is no on the receiving end of that 100-watt smile that lets him get away with everything.

Suga gets up on the board and starts with something simple, like spreading his feet just a little bit apart or shifting his weight unto one foot, testing out his balance each time he makes a small movement. Daichi, from his perspective, is looking up at Suga, sees the trails of water drip down on his pale legs. He follows the trail up and under Suga’s shorts where it disappears to where he can’t see. His eyes continue trail up and he see Suga’s core muscles engaged, muscles straining to keep his balance. He’s worried about Suga getting burned too much under the fierce summer sun.

As the yoga enthusiast transitions from one pose to another, slowly and with intense focus, Daichi catches the sight of a water drop hanging from one of Suga’s nipples and is overcome with an urge to lick it off_. Wait, what?_ Daichi’s mind is paralyzed at the thought. A whispered, “Fuck,” escapes his lips before a yell breaks him from his trance.

“Daichi!”

A thud then a splash.

The taller of the two reaches for the other, holding him by the forearms. A small rogue wave passes through and Daichi sees Suga’s pained face get lost momentarily under the water. He scoops up the setter by the waist and pulls him against his own body in case Suga had worse injuries he couldn’t see. “What happened?”

Suga winces, grits and reaches down to his legs, dipping his head back down to the water. Daichi scoots him up higher against his side.

Suga’s knee comes up to his chest, “Aaaaah, Daichi, I’m getting a bad cramp on my leg and the board hit me on the groin.”

“Don’t do that. Straighten your leg. Come on, you know this. I’ve got you.”

One arm tightens around Daichi’s neck as Suga releases a restrained breath. Suga’s other arm comes around as well and he ends up, essentially, hugging Daichi while placing his head on one of his forearms to bear down on the pain.

“That’s it. Slowly. Just stretch it on the sand.” Suga only groans in response but eventually his breathing slows down enough to tell Daichi that its helping.

While his head is still facing down, his arms around Daichi loosens with his hands just linking behind Daichi’s neck, “Aww, man. That was so not cool.”

“Nah. I’ve seen worse happen to you. Remember that time you tried making okonomiyaki at the apartment?”

“No! Daichi!” A hand slaps the offender’s chest making Suga slip a little from Daichi’s grasp.

“Whoops, I got you,” now both his hands are wrapped around Suga’s waist.

It takes both of them a moment or two before anything registers.

Suga takes in very small gasp but he thinks Daichi doesn’t suspect anything. The splish-splash of the water around them becomes deafening and the sound of the bustle on the shores feels like it’s so much farther away.

Suga’s thumb starts moving on its own, gently playing with the edge of Daichi’s hair. When he realizes he was doing it, he couldn’t get himself to stop – if only to make it seem that maybe Daichi would think he was doing it subconsciously. It takes a minute but Suga starts to feel a thumb rubbing against the small of his back, mimicking what he’s doing. His leg cramp threatens to come back and Suga winces at the pain, re-tightening his hold on his captain. Still, no one says a word between them.

Their proximity leads Suga to think about another issue concerning the man currently wrapped around him, in his head, he asks just how exactly Daichi could have grown this much in just one semester. His chest seems massive and his shoulders are now so much wider than his. And his back- his back feels so taut under his arms. He could feel the muscles flex whenever he makes small movements.

With everything Daichi invading Suga’s consciousness, from the view of Daichi’s bare and dripping chest, to that alluring smell of sun, water and just pure Daichi, to the sound of his breathing and the feel of his skin under his fingers, Suga spontaneously decides to do something he knows he’s going to regret later. He takes a slow inhale and then, “Dai-“

Splash!

A volleyball lands right next to them, wrapped arms retreat to their owners’ sides. “What do you guys think you’re doing? You could hurt someone with that! And Suga’s already hurt as it is!”

“Suga-san’s hurt? What happened?” Hinata swims towards his senpai, scoops up the rogue volleyball and ends up assisting their former vice-captain with the help of Daichi.

Once the Karasuno boys gets Suga settled on a beach towel under an umbrella, half of the team searches for more ice cream and the other half searches for a first aid kit. Only Suga and Daichi are left alone, dripping and enveloped in silence despite the summer crowd surrounding them.

Daichi sits right next to Suga. Despite being rudely interrupted as Suga was just about to say something, he really enjoyed that quiet moment with Suga. He defends that they are best friends and given all the summer training camps and the weekend sleepovers, he should feel comfortable with Suga. Maybe it’s because they live in the same apartment that he feels closer to him despite not spending as much time as they did in college. They have different majors now and their own jobs but he’s glad to still have this closeness to Suga now, if that’s what this is called. Is it nostalgia? Is it comfort?

While searching for the answer in his head, his hand slowly makes its way next to Suga’s while Suga tries to mirror the action himself. Suga’s head is swimming in thoughts though. Whatever he was going to say back there, was it the universe’s way of telling him that it was a bad idea and that you just got saved from ruining your long-time friendship with his best friend? Despite the almost-blunder, his inner desire to indulge himself in these little moments are just too tempting. _I need to learn to discipline myself more, obviously, _he thinks.

Their actions are minuscule, meant to be inconspicuous and undetectable but thundering heartbeats make the movements seem like a goddamn marching band. Their hands bump, making them look each other in the eye, both looking absolutely frightened. They look away immediately.

It takes a few moments but Daichi just goes for it and slowly links his pinky with Suga’s. He holds his breath, not knowing the reason and purpose for what he did. He didn’t even consider Suga’s reactions, but he just had the overwhelming urge to do it or he will never have another opportunity again. He waits for the pale-skinned setter to react. He waits and waits until he just feels a tug on his own finger. It was weak and quick, almost dismissible. Almost. But it happened. They both let out a sigh and stay that way until they hear the voices of their teammates getting closer. Then, it’s back to being captain and co-captain again.

Suga’s little accident wins him a ride up front with Daichi, leaving Asahi to sit in the back and having Nishinoya sit on his lap. All four passengers are conked out cold, heads are painfully tilted to the side and a couple of them drooling just a little bit. Up front, Suga and Daichi keep up with light conversation mostly about what they did during the day or just some of the things they plan on doing for the rest of the summer.

Speaking of the rest of the summer, it plays out like clockwork. Suga’s family goes to Fukushima for a weekend. Daichi’s family visits relatives up north for a big family reunion. Every now and then the two college roommates would hang out with Asahi and/or Shimizu or with other friends in their neighborhood. However, there never seems to be an opportunity for the two to hang out with just themselves. It’s not like either of them is making any effort to anyway. By the end of the summer, both are wary of the other, doesn’t know whether the atmosphere would be awkward or not. Messages are still sent, and they still talk when with other people. They just both don’t know whether they should touch on the subject again or just forget it ever happened.

It wasn’t until summer finally ended and the two are headed back to Tokyo when the two finally got an extended amount of alone time with each other. Daichi has already been at the station quite early while Suga practically got a photo-finish embarkation. It’s only when they are seated next to each other when their eyes meet.

After settling into his seat, grumbling about how his mom would almost not let him go back or his dad wanting to send him off with every other food or stuff from home that Suga might find comforting. He’s been avoiding Daichi’s eyes, but he has to face the music eventually and might as well suck it up and do it now.

“My mom made us lunch.”

The ice breaks.

“Mine, too. She said you didn’t come over at all during summer that this was her last chance to feed you.”

Suga rubs a hand behind his head and sheepishly responds, “Yeah, I know. Busy summer, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, definitely.”

Silence falls between them.

Daichi takes their food and sets them on their trays. Suga watches him a bit and takes out his phone and some headphones. “I got that new movie that we weren’t able to watch during last semester. Want to?” Suga says, offering one of the earbuds to Daichi.

The dark-haired student silently accepts and the two settle into their seats even more. They eat rice balls with fried meat and special potato salads and three desserts. By the time the meal was finished and cleared away, they started to relax with each other. Suga insisted on finishing all the food and is now starting to feel the repercussions to those actions. His body starts leaning more towards Daichi, saying that he wants to get a better view of the small phone in front of them. Daichi decides to do the same. Both their arms find the one armrest they share. Later, Suga’s head rests on Daichi’s shoulder because the latter claims that the boy would have a stiff neck if he leaves it resting on his palm. As the movie runs and their train ride is about three-quarters through, Suga’s head, still on Daichi’s shoulder slowly turns so that Suga’s face is facing Daichi’s body. He does it painfully slowly, trying to make the action undetectable. This little Suga-moment is brought about when the setter, at some point, got a whiff of Daichi’s alluring scent and wants more of it.

Daichi thinks that Suga has fallen asleep and is falling off his shoulder. He couldn’t move his hand without moving Suga too much, so he shifts so that his mouth is in Suga’s hair and his free arm is readjusting his setter’s position to a more comfortable sleeping position. The action surprised the not-really-sleeping guy but doesn’t give his consciousness away. He likes the feel of Daichi’s hand on him. His face turned towards him. If this could be his only chance to experience this outside of drunken moments_, I’ll take it,_ he thinks.

A little bit later, “Koushi, we’re here,” he hears Daichi wake him up with a soft whisper directly on his ear. Suga really did end up dozing off a bit there.

“Huh?” his eyes flutter open and sees that Daichi’s holding unto Suga’s phone and earphones. An incoming stretch makes the two of them separate.

“We’re here, Sug. We’re getting off in a couple of minutes now.”

“Wait, did you just call me –,” he cut himself off, seeing just how incredibly flushed Daichi is right now. Suga feels his own cheeks warm up but decides to grab Daichi’s forearm instead. “Sorry I fell asleep but thanks for being my human pillow. That was, by far, my best sleep on a train, like, ever!”

“I can tell. I’ve got the drool stain on my chest to prove it,” he quips as he displays his shirt that indeed has a wet stain that is already halfway dried.

“Eww, Daichi, why did you not wake me?!”

“Well, I didn’t notice myself until I felt my chest get moist! But don’t worry, I’ll make sure you do not forget about this.”

“Omigod, this is humiliating!”

“No, this is,” Daichi hands over Suga’s phones and earbuds. He’s been holding on to them this whole time and as he is passing the electronics back to its owner, he decides to light up the lock screen showing a very asleep Suga with his drool and Daichi’s shirt. Then there’s Daichi, behind the offending sleeper, straining himself, trying to get into the shot as much as possible with a grin that spells trouble.

Suga pockets his stuff and is about to retaliate verbally when he notices the train slowing down. Suga puffs his cheeks in frustration and starts to collect the bags they brought with them. Suga couldn’t, however, hide that tiny smile blossoming on one corner of his mouth. Before stepping off the train, standing right behind Daichi, he reaches for his phone and, for a very brief moment and while ignoring the embarrassing moment captured, looks at Daichi’s silly face on his lock screen.


	4. Autumn

Back in Tokyo, the roommates sink into routine, albeit a new one. Suga finds himself joining Daichi for his morning runs, something he never thought was possible. But having Daichi sit on his bed first thing in the morning, placing a hand on his back and gently shaking him until he rouses from his deep sleep was just an experience that was too indulgent to pass up. He fears it won’t happen again if he says ‘no’ too much. The way Daichi would sweetly call his name over and over was, at times, more effective than his morning coffee. Sometimes, he pretends to be asleep for a minute or two longer if only to hear his name on Daichi’s lips more, if only to feel him come closer to his face as if there are other sleeping people in the room. If he’s lucky, he could chance upon Daichi calling him Koushi.

Suga could keep up with the rest of them, if he wanted. And impressing Daichi was something that he _wanted_ to do lately. However, Suga is still Suga and there are still mornings that aren’t worth getting up early for, so he only ends up running with Daichi 2-3x a week, which is a lot considering that Daichi runs six days a week. Suga gets his daily morning wakeup call from Daichi and for him, that’s more than enough to trade in a jog or two every week.

This sickly feeling in the pit of Suga’s stomach always makes its way there after he’s taken the time to appreciate Daichi. He hasn’t put a label on it and hasn’t dwelled on it. Whether it is guilt or fear or some other emotion, he pushes it down and away, only allowing himself to feel good about what he’s feeling for Daichi. He’s resigned himself to the fact that it’s something. Again, it’s another label, he hasn’t given time to dwell on, whether it’s appreciation and admiration or something far heavier than that.

Of course, changes also happen to our resident wing spiker and jogging enthusiast, who has also widened his fitness horizons since the start of the fall semester. Making Suga get up from bed during his least favorite time of day takes a toll on any best friend’s conscience so he makes it up to him and comes along to some of his yoga classes in the afternoon – on the few chances he doesn’t have any shifts at work.

Even though he’s got the flexibility of an oak tree in winter, he couldn’t pass up seeing Suga bend and twist in oftentimes, very short shorts. His lean frame and strong core allow him to hold his pose with such an effortless elegance that Daichi doesn’t mind occasionally falling over or failing to execute a pose himself. He sees long, creamy smooth legs that don’t have a single hair on them and whenever that inner voice inside him starts to speak, he closes his eyes, clears his head and goes back to just staring. _They’re pretty, why shouldn’t I look, _he justifies.

Daichi shares a couple of classes of General Education classes in university with Suga and sometimes Suga would scoot closer to Daichi right when the teacher is discussing a lesson. He would make sure the teacher was facing the board when he would tug on Daichi’s arm and whisper directly in his ear. “Come to yoga with me later, Dai, please.” A petulant whine while most likely accompany the dragged ‘please.” And Daichi will not deny that it does sound very pleasing to his ears. He indulges in the hope that Suga only does this with him. It’s only him that gets to hear Suga whine and beg so cutely. Back in the apartment, he gets the usual Suga begging for food or getting someone to help him out with groceries but he also relishes this part of begging Suga that is quiet and pleading and he admits, somewhat seductive.

The yoga expert of the two claims that he’ll have no one to talk to in yoga class, however, he’s always hounded by a few of the female participants when their class is over. There’s a sharp pain in Daichi’s chest when he sees a girl in skimpy clothes walk up to Suga to ask him for a post-workout drink. It only takes a little smile and wave towards Daichi and the feeling always, always goes away. “I’m so sorry, girls. I’ve already made plans with Daichi.” Even if the words describing whatever is going on between the two of them hasn’t been figured out yet, at least his balance and flexibility are drastically improving.

All these added workouts plus Daichi’s strengthening days in the gym have resulted in their improved volleyball skills. With the two doing more together now, they’ve become more in tuned with the other on the court as well. Whether it’s how Suga responds to Daichi’s receive or Daichi’s reaction to Suga’s toss, needs are being considered and actions are being anticipated. Suga’s tosses are becoming more precise and his endurance has increased tenfold. Daichi is now able to dive for more receives and ends up being less sore after practice. The team realizes this and dubs them the “freak duo,” a nickname they are familiar with but never in their lives thought would be applied to the two of them specifically. While playing, communication between the two is sometimes done with one look, one smile or one nod. And when a point is scored, high fives and slaps to the back are always done between the two of them first before they share one with other teammates.

Daichi is also catching the eye of the university team. He’s occasionally receiving offers to play for the varsity team and compete in inter-college tournaments. He refuses, each and every time, with a smile and a scratch in the head, only to look over at Suga when he’s not looking and say, “I’m really just doing it for fun.”

Suga, on the other hand, reminds Daichi of what the opportunity could mean to his former captain. It could open up doors and give him chances with other fields but he knows his best friend and knows that Daichi has no intention of pursuing volleyball beyond just casually playing and keeping active so he doesn’t really push it too much. He still thanks the heavens that Daichi says no the scouts though, he really doesn’t want to lose any time spent with his best friend.

Whether it’s coming from class, yoga or their volleyball practice, the two always seem to be walking home together more and more. Whenever Daichi’s hand would accidentally, in the truest definition of the word, brush against Suga’s, the light-haired setter’s hair would always catch, followed by a very pregnant pause that lasts a second and then they dip back into normalcy.

Whenever the two, who are also spending more time doing domestic tasks together, end up cooking, one is always a prepper and a cleaner while the other is the actual cook. They don’t have the biggest kitchen in the world but also, it’s not small enough that these two should be shoulder to shoulder with the other when dinner preparations are underway but here they are anyway.

There may not be any lingering actions, no prolonged silent moments looking to each other’s eyes but there are other things happening between them. Daichi always finds a way to wrap his arm around Suga’s shoulder’s whenever the latter manages to chop all the vegetables before the turn of the century. Likewise, Suga always commences surprise waist-tickling from behind whenever he sees Daichi concentrating too hard on a particular kitchen task, one that does not involve kitchen knives though.

Suga feels that what they have is a natural progression of their friendship. Of course, they’re going to be closer, they’re living under the same roof. And they are best friends. They seem to be spending a lot of time together because they have the same hobbies. He’s happy. Although, every night, when he tucks himself in bed, Suga can’t help but not want the day to end. They’re together the whole day except for some classes and when the day ends, his loneliness seeps in when he realizes that he’s a whole room away from Daichi and he doesn’t like the feeling of not being so close to him.

Suga thinks about this every night and knows that he’s about to get screwed. He likes the feeling of Daichi’s warm skin next to him and thinks that it’s natural considering that the weather is turning cooler and cooler by the day. So, it’s unfortunate to not have that warmth when one would need it the most.

Daichi, on the other hand in the other end of the room, also struggles with nightly demons. He deals with his by facing his wall and waiting for Suga to fall asleep. He could hear Suga toss and turn until his breathing evens out and he could finally face the other way and be free to look at Suga’s face._ Not creepy at all,_ he says in his head. He may not have found a solution to not being physically close to Suga at nighttime but seeing this serene sleeping face, sometimes mouth wide open or sometimes with a little bit of drool or sometimes both, gives him peace that allows him to finally relax and imagine them next to each other while they sleep. 


	5. Winter

The sting of the winter air starts settling in and the two add a new item to their daily lives, twice a week movie night huddled in bed under one big fluffy blanket. At first, it was only Daichi joining in Suga’s movie night on Fridays, crowding Suga under the covers and sharing his unbelievably cozy body heat. Next thing they know, it’s something they look forward to twice a week. Suga claims that it’s because Daichi’s natural body heat is such a great weapon against winter and Daichi claims that he just doesn’t want to wake up and see his best friend turned into an icicle.

They started off with Suga on one end of the bed and his icy feet on top of Daichi’s lap, getting warmed up by his favorite wing spiker. Then it’s the two of them sitting side by side, with variations that would involve Suga’s head on Daichi’s lap or Daichi’s head on Suga’s shoulders.

They know that by this time, they’ve crossed the threshold of just being best friends. It’s undeniable. There’s more touching. There’s more care and worry. And there’s more silent moments at the most inopportune times. Suga comes in closer and brushes Daichi’s hair to the side more tenderly when he thinks he might be just a tad too warm. He’s no longer _just_ checking for a fever. And Daichi would always start rubbing some part of Suga, feet, hands then later legs, arms and his back, whenever he can feel the cold slightly coming in through their blanket.

The butterflies in Suga’s stomach have transformed into a warmer, fuzzier feeling – one that is comforting and cozy. It’s a feeling that he wants to come home to after a long day at school or work. Suga knows what this is, this feeling that he loves to bathe in, but he’s not going to give it a name and he sure as hell isn’t going to own up to it. _Just let me have this. _

But while Suga thinks of every possible justification and excuse in his head, Daichi just forces the second thinking out of his head. Either way, they are just both anxious of messing up whatever is going on between them. Whatever they have is good and the last thing either of them would want is for whatever they have right now to disappear. It’s a delicate balance of something so good but could be something balancing on a precarious edge right now.

Another Friday night rolls in and this time, it’s extra chilly with a snowstorm coming in and temperatures drop even more. They’ve exhausted their catalog of good movies and have started to work on cheesier B-movies with the bad CGI special effects. The two find themselves exhausted from the week’s work and school and sluggish and unwilling to move. They’re both lying on their sides across the couch, with Suga facing the TV and Daichi right behind him perched just a little bit higher so he could see the screen.

This definitely, completely obliterates anything remotely related to being _just_ best friends. But while Suga justifies it with excuses relating to them being tired, being frigid or just being lethargic, Daichi just shakes his head and shoves any lingering thoughts that nag at his conscience and try to focus on the movie instead.

Halfway through awful dialogue, dreadful special effects and predictable storylines, Suga scoots his way until he’s facing Daichi’s neck. With heavy lids and a wispy voice, “Dai, I’m sleepy,” he hesitates but continues, “but I don’t want to get out of the blanket. Let me stay here and just wake me up after the movie please.”

“Ok. I got you.” Daichi starts threading fingers through Suga’s hair, something he discovered the past few weeks is a sure way to make the ash blonde fall asleep. Not even five minutes later, Suga’s breathing evens out and Daichi makes it an intention to watch the TV instead of sinking his face into Suga’s soft hair and inhaling that vanilla and spice shampoo he uses.

The credits roll and Daichi realizes that he wasn’t even paying attention to any of it, at all, despite staring at the screen the entire time. His arm now wrapped around Suga’s back feels glued to where it is, the taller man not wanting to lift it off the man in front of him. He manages to click the TV off and instead of making a move for their bedroom, just tucks themselves with their big fluffy blanket and hugs Suga even tighter. Daichi falls asleep while drowning in a scent of vanilla and spice.

By morning, the snowstorm has passed, the sun is out and Daichi is awake. Their living room gets ridiculous amounts of morning sun but it’s cold, nobody has a shift this morning and waking up with Suga in his arms is something he decides to want to experience every day.

_Ok… I’m gay_, Daichi finally admits to himself and plants a kiss unto Suga’s forehead before covering them both from the brightness of morning. He’ll deal with everything else later.

Not more than another hours later, Suga rouses from sleep when he feels something next to him move. It’s big and firm and smells really, really nice. He opens his eyes and comes face to face with Daichi’s sleeping face and their blanket covering them both.

They’ve snuggled a lot and definitely been in each other’s personal spaces a lot but it’s Suga’s first time to wake up in the morning with Daichi right in front of him. He wakes with all his senses invaded by Daichi. He wants this, wants what’s in front of him. They’re still under the covers so they’re huddled closer together. His free arm snakes around Daichi’s waist and ends up pulling on that broad, muscular back towards him. He thinks, ‘If all my mornings started like this, I might end up being a morning person.’ He takes a deep breath and exhales with, “I love this.”

Eyes flutter open. He said that out loud? He said that out loud!

The man he’s hugging opens his eyes halfway, smiles and tugs him closer. Their foreheads touch. Suga feels a finger tracing circles on the small of his back. Suga smiles back. Their noses bump against each other. Daichi forces out a breath through his nose, something that should resemble a voiceless chuckle. Suga wiggles his nose and smiling eyes retaliate with a nose wiggle of his own. They both start making silly faces with each other, still not producing any sound other than sharp intakes of breaths. At some point Suga snorts at a particularly unflattering silly face. Daichi tries to suppress a laugh and somehow finds himself landing a peck on Suga’s nose. Suga’s face feigns an exaggerated surprise and strikes back with his own kiss to a nose. They do this a couple more times until Suga, at some point, misses a nose and lands on warm yet cracked lips. Time stops. Both assessing the situation. Both waiting for the next step. Suga is on the beginning stages of a panic attack. Breaths are held but Daichi comes in for another kiss, also on the lips. Time stops again but the pause is less pregnant, less apprehensive. It’s they’re just making sure the other is sure, giving time for a proper veto to the situation but Suga wants more, so he gets more. Another kiss. And then, he gets another kiss back.

“Dai-“ Suga’s lips are captured and ravaged in an all-consuming kiss, morning breath be damned. There are gasps for when someone comes up for air. There are whimpers, mostly from Suga, eager for more. There are moans, some from Daichi, savoring the feel of the other’s lips. It’s as if the two were running out of time. The overflowing passion makes delectable kissing sounds. Tongues explore and taste and map out textures and flavors. Hands press and prod and caress as if it was the last time they would hold each other in their arms. Hands are crawling up and down the other’s back. There are legs rubbing and interweaving with the other’s as well.

Thoughts explode from their minds. Suga pants and let’s go of an “Oh, god!” while Daichi releases growls and deep moans. They would pause but would not separate their lips, letting their breaths and their minds to catch up and then they would resume.

It’s Daichi who breaks the tension. He pulls away from the kiss and brings his lips to Suga’s ears, “I want this. I want you. Please tell me you want me to, too.” By the time he finished talking, his lips are already exploring the entire side of Suga’s neck.

“Yes, yes! Daichi, yes! I want you!”

And with that, the two crash their lips together again. Hands race towards the other’s face, neck and head. The blanket is thrown off and Daichi moves on top of Suga. He looks down and sees his co-captain, his roommate, his best friend, who is now, something so much more.

Tears starts welling up in his eyes and at the sight of the tears edging to fall, panic sets into Suga’s being. But Daichi smiles. And Daichi smiles proudly and his smile let’s Suga know that it’s alright. Consequentially, tears start congregating into Suga’s eyes as well.

Wordlessly, they look into each other’s glassy eyes with relief and happiness. Suga brings the captains face towards him with gentle hands. They kiss again but so tender this time. Not the overwhelming release of sexual tension as before but more communicative as if saying, “Yes, this is happening and it’s definitely true between the two of us. It’s alright. You can breathe easy now” It’s like an apology as well_, sorry it took so long_, it silently says.

By now, they’re both crying, laughing and smiling idiots. They’re both relieved and relaxed despite needing to discuss so much more. They’ve both been dancing around something they were both just learning to discover themselves and they will talk it out over coffee and breakfast before they continue it in bed for the rest of the morning.

Suga traces a finger down Daichi’s jaw, and with a bright, toothy smile he says, “Coffee?”

“Coffee.”

-

EPILOGUE

The news says that it’s spring again even if the chill of winter is as bone-numbing as ever. Daichi and Suga can’t tell though. Their room that used to have their beds on either side now have a giant mashed up bigger bed in the middle. Now, they have twice the number of blankets to keep them toasty through blustery nights and some dragged out mornings. Suga doesn’t mind that underneath said toasty blankets is a warm, often naked body, doing a much better job of keeping him warm. Daichi doesn’t complain. Suga’s smooth skin is like a drug to him and having it readily available to touch, caress and kiss is a welcome change to their routine.

Daichi still goes on his daily run but Suga has given up on keeping up with that. The runner of the two still comes over to Suga’s side of bed, calling to wake him up or just to land a kiss on a cheek. Sometimes, he’d use a kiss to wake him up.

Suga has also given up on dragging Daichi back to yoga class even if Daichi still offers to come along sometimes. He knows his boyfriend is just jealous of some of the girls even though Suga’s already made a point of parading Daichi around as his boyfriend and converted his pursuers into avid admirers of the new couple.

They still indulge in movie nights before their weekend starts and they go on dates now where they hold hands and hug and kiss and become disgustingly sweet that even Kuroo and Bokuto, on their occasional visits, start to complain about it. They all laugh it off then kiss some more.

They post about the other on their socials enough that former teammates and other friends no longer need to ask about whether they are just best friends. With the frequency of the other showing up on posts, having faces practically glued next to the other, or having an extra attendee in family-only events, nobody needs to ask what happened or how. They, everybody that knows Daichi and Suga, have all known, since the beginning that these two were headed in this direction anyway. It’s just going to take a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for staying until the end!   
The kudos and comments are very much appreciated, thank you very much!

**Author's Note:**

> I've finished writing this but I want my chapter headings so just sit back for a bit. Will post chapters twice a week. There will be five plus an epilogue. 
> 
> Not beta'd because I don't have friends.


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